Soul (2006)
By Tobsha Learner
Biological determinism; Gender; Genetic code; Genetic research; Genetic screening; Heredity; Historical fiction; Inherited traits; Nature/nurture
Learner’s novel follows the lives of two related women: one a Victorian wife who murders her husband, the other a twenty-first century geneticist searching for the mutant gene that allows people to kill without remorse.
Soul alternates between the life of the Victorian Lavinia and her twenty-first century great-granddaughter, Julia. When Lavinia, an innocent Irish girl, marries the renowned traveler and naturalist Colonel James Huntington in 1859, she is in love with her husband and eager to begin her new life as a genteel lady in Mayfair. Initially, their marriage is a happy one as the couple enjoy a mutual love and intimacy that leads to the birth of their son Aidan. Meanwhile, in 2002, Julia Huntington is traveling through Afghanistan gathering adrenaline and hormone samples from soldiers for her research on the genetics involved in violence. While there, her caravan is attacked and Julia is forced to kill an enemy solider in self-defense; afterwards, Julia is shocked and dismayed more by her lack of personal trauma than by the act itself. Upon her return to the states, an official from the U.S. Defense Department asks Julia to head a research project that will attempt to indentify a gene for violence without remorse. Despite the reservations she and some of her colleagues have (genetic profiling, etc.), Julia accepts. Using twins who’ve served in the military, Julia begins to test for a mutant gene that predisposes individuals to intense violence without any personal repercussions such as PTSD. Her life seems complete as Julia thrives on this important assignment and as she and her beloved husband Klaus become pregnant. Then, everything changes for both Lavinia and Julia. Lavinia quickly discovers there is a darker side to marriage and to London when her husband refuses to be intimate with her and begins staying out all hours of the night at opium dens and whorehouses. When Colonel Huntington replaces his wife with a young ingénue named Hamish Campbell as his naturalist assistant, Lavinia suspects that their relationship is more than just a professional one. Things are falling apart for Julia as well. Shortly after she realizes she is pregnant with their child, Julia learns that Klaus is leaving her for her best friend, Carla. She is so distraught that she miscarries, can barely function at work, and begins an affair with her other best friend’s eighteen year old son, Gabriel. Both women are driven all but mad by their husbands’ betrayal. Lavinia poisons her husband’s snuff, stands trial, is convicted of murder, and hangs for the murder of her husband. Julia, convinced that she has the exact mutant gene for remorseless violence she has successfully isolated, and further enraged by the news that Carla is pregnant, holds Klaus at gunpoint during a private dinner in her home. Ultimately, however, Julia decides not to kill her ex-husband and lies to the Department of Defense, covering up her discovery of the mutant violence gene.
Learner tackles complex issues from love and betrayal, genetic profiling and predisposition, to free will and nature versus nurture. Julia is aware of her ancestor's story and fears she may commit the same crime because of her genes. In the end, Julia discovers that while an individual may be genetically programmed to kill without personal consequences, other factors, like free will, are more powerful and able to cancel out this tendency. Julia concludes that nurture can triumph over nature and considers herself a prime example of this, although her ancestor was not as lucky.
Evaluation: Learner’s novel tackles thought-provoking issues of science and ethics. The alternation between the two time periods is well-crafted and the characters well-developed. Plenty of attention is paid to both the scientific experimentation Julia is performing as well as its implications. This modern day science is paralleled by discussions of phrenology in the nineteenth-century segments of the novel. An important caveat is necessary, however. Learner’s writing often devolves into romance-novel style descriptions of sexuality that are quite explicit. This may make the text, if taught in its entirety, inappropriate for certain age groups or for the classroom in general.
– Lauren Wood Hoffer